Wayne Green was walking through the halls of Berea High School this morning on his way to another first day of football practice.

"There's a new excitement every year," he said, "but I think as you get older, the highs aren't quite as high and the lows aren't quite as low, because I think you start seeing everything for what it really is."

Green opened the door, walked outside and saw one of his players approaching the building.

Green is in his 36th season as a high school football coach, his 29th as a head coach. He's in the first year of his second go-around at Berea.

"Here's what this job does -- it makes you feel young while at the same time, it makes you realize how old you really are," Green said.

"When they hired me, I told them that the spirit was still very willing, I just hope the body could keep up, and I really don't know if that's going to happen yet, because we haven't gotten into the 95-hour work weeks yet. But that's coming."

Today is the first day of practice for football, volleyball, cross country, swimming, girls golf, girls tennis and competitive cheer teams, according to the South Carolina High School League.

Berea high head coach Wayne Green starts the first day of football practice. (Photo: PATRICK COLLARD/Staff)

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Green, 58, spent the past four seasons coaching at Seneca. His first head coaching job was at Berea from 1986 through 1999.

"He was actually here when my mom went to school here," said Destin Guillen, a senior tight end-defensive tackle who recently committed to Mercer University. "She knows all about Coach Green."

Now Guillen and his teammates know something about Green, who has won 206 games at Berea, Belton-Honea Path and Seneca.

"He's laid-back and watches what you do, but if you do something wrong, he'll jump on you. He has the energy," Guillen said. "We're all excited, especially the seniors, the biggest group on the field."

At least 25 of the Bulldogs are seniors hoping to improve on a stretch that's netted a total of four victories in the past three seasons.

"The players have been very responsive to what we have tried to teach them," Green said. "They've shown up in great numbers and worked hard. We have to learn how to compete. They've had to learn a new system offensively, defensively, and even our kicking game is going to be much different than what they have done before. The coaches have worked extremely hard.